Of Ignored Phone Calls and Persistent Friends
by Kinlor
Summary: Kurt comes home from Dalton for the weekend in a rather depressed mood causing Finn to seek refuge at Puck's. Puck wants to know what the deal is but Kurt just ignores his calls.


**Friday**

Puck didn't question it when Finn showed up at his place at quarter after seven with a casual shrug and asked to play video games. He even offered to throw in cash for pizza. That didn't mean Puck didn't give him a strange look before letting him in, after all the dude had been pretty excited about the weekend- understatement- when Kurt called and said he'd be coming home. Finn hadn't seen his step-brother in weeks and couldn't wait for a family night. Finn had spent all of Glee going on about it, Puck almost wanted to throttle him.

Kurt had been spending a lot of time at his fancy all boys school and made a point of not coming around to often. Not because he didn't want to see any of his friends from McKinley but that it made it hard to focus at Dalton when he realized how much he missed New Directions and how he wished things could've be different. At least that was what Mercedes had confided to the rest of New Directions. And hey, Puck didn't fault the dude, McKinley was turning out to be a shitty place for Kurt and they'd done a pretty shit job as friends in noticing. So Kurt, or rather his parents, did what they had to do. Puck could respect that.

Without question, Puck let Finn in and they headed for his bedroom for the customary Call of Duty on Puck's hard earned 360. Puck let video games distract him for an hour and a half before he started asking questions.

"Weren't you suppose to have some family thing tonight, dude?"  
"What?" Finn sucked in a breath.  
"You were all hyped about Hummel coming home. You spent all of yesterday and shit going on about it, and with Aretha of all people. What the fuck happened? He ain't come home?"  
"No, he's home." Said Finn, his body moving along with his game controller.  
"And?"  
Finn shrugged, "He just dropped his stuff and went to his room. When Burt couldn't get him to come down for dinner we all pretty much reached the conclusion that he wasn't coming out any time soon."  
"What's wrong with him?" Puck asked, jerking his arms back and throwing his head back as he was killed. Again.  
"Dunno- damnit!- Like I said, he didn't come down. Haven't seen him since then."  
"So you just… left?"

Finn shrugged without really looking up. He didn't see what the big deal was and he said as much "besides, he'll just call Mercedes or something, he always does. Anyway… he's kind of, I don't know, a bitch when he's upset."  
"Did he say why?"  
"I didn't really ask." said Finn, "why do you care so much?"

The question had been casually thrown out as Finn went back to the game but Puck took it seriously.

"Because he's my friend?" it came out as more of a question than a statement, but after it was out there, Puck nodded his head as if to confirm it before adding "and dude, he's your brother now. Shouldn't you, I don't know, care more?"

A guilty look crossed Finn's face as he glanced over at Puck, not even noticing when he was killed.

"I do man, it's just- I know it's about Dalton, or that dude Blaine, and I just don't know how too… deal, you know." He trailed off. "It's not because they're both dudes." He added quickly when he saw the look Puck was giving him, "I mean it is, but it isn't. I really just don't know what to do."

Puck took in the pleading look Finn gave him. Finn had a track record dealing with his latent homophobic tendencies and at this point everyone, at least in Glee club, was aware of them, and the dude kind of felt really bad about it. The sincerity there was real so Puck decided to throw the guy a bone after all; he'd been an asshole too.

**Saturday**

Saturday went much the same way as Friday night, only Finn showed up around 4 and left at quarter to 8 to pick up Rachel for something that Puck assumed was supposed to be a date but sounded more like it qualified as just this side of torture. The conversation started out very much the same way as well, minus the part which established that yes; Finn did, in fact, leave.

"Dude, if you're so interested why don't you call him and ask _him_ about it?" Finn said

Puck stared at his friend for a long moment before reaching across to the table besides his bed for his phone. When Puck put the phone to his ear after a quick scroll through his contacts, Finn stared at him, open mouthed, in surprise that Puck was actually calling. When voicemail picked up, Puck flipped his phone closed and stared at it before dropping it to his bed.

"Not surprising." Finn finally said, turning back to the TV. Puck half expected him to follow up with some kind of remark about Kurt not picking up because it was Puck calling. He and Finn had been pretty chill with one another lately, but they still took the occasionally jab at one another out of some kind of deep-seed, psychological bullshit. What Finn did say, "his phone's been ringing all day. He either doesn't answer or hangs it up. I don't know why he doesn't just turn it off."

Puck considered hitting Finn for even suggesting calling if he already knew Kurt wasn't going to answer. Instead he relieved his momentary frustration on Finn's character… thirty five times.

When Finn left for his 'date' with Rachel, Puck decided that a few more rounds of what was now Halo was in order. One thirty- _"Jesus" _he swore- rolled around by the time he finally decided he had thoroughly destroyed enough twelve year olds up past their bed time. It was two by the time he finally dragged himself to bed, and for the following half hour he contemplated calling Kurt again. When it occurred to him that at quarter to three in the morning Kurt was probably asleep, he actually considered calling. The younger boy would surely answer at almost three to bitch out the caller, right? Right. When the phone rang until it reached voicemail, Puck reasoned that Kurt was probably just a heavy sleeper. Duh, Puck slept through his alarm all the time.

After hanging up, Puck dropped his phone onto his bed, punched a comfortable spot into his pillow and went to sleep.

**Sunday**

When Finn showed up Sunday morning it was quarter after eleven and Puck had been up for, maybe, ten minutes- fifteen tops. So when Finn started talking, Puck just stared at him.

"- and the music is-"  
"Wait, what?" Puck asked when the haze of sleep started to lift.  
"I said he's depressing… Kurt?" he added upon Puck's confused look, as if to say 'duh', and for a moment Puck had the desire to hit him. "He just keeps listening to the same songs over and over and over..."  
"Have you tried talking to him?" Puck said, heading up the stairs to his room.  
"He just yells at me and tells me to leave. He said I'd just make it worse." When Puck looked back at him, Finn shrugged. Puck rolled his eyes, refraining from openly agreeing with Kurt. Finn's attempts could be good natured at times, but Puck had witnessed more than one attempt that ended with Kurt just wanting to hit the taller boy. Or actually throwing something at him.  
"Whatever dude." Puck said, Finn followed him into his bedroom, "I'mma grab a quick shower."

Finn gave a noncommittal grunt as he turned on the TV and proceeded to set up a few solo rounds until Puck got back.

Puck had almost forgotten that Finn was over when he got back to his room. He eyed the taller boy for a beat before grabbing his phone up off the bed, "Back in a minute."

Closing the bathroom door behind him, Puck's fingers hovered over his phone's keypad. When he realized how stupid his hesitation was he scrolled through his contacts and hit 'call' when he got to Kurt's name. After a couple of rings, Puck started to think it was stupid to call. Maybe he was over reacting and it was normal for Kurt to throw himself depressed bitch-fits and Finn was just getting away. After all Finn lived with the dude now. And besides, Kurt was kind of into the dramatics when he was at McKinley.

Kurt's voicemail picked up, breaking Puck from his thoughts, and despite his conclusion of moments ago, he hesitated only a few seconds before calling Kurt's number again- _What?_ Maybe the dude had just been out of the room. After the fourth- _shut up_- call the phone was picked up and line connected. There was a split second of music before the line went dead. Well shit.

"Sonuva bitch. "

The bastard hung up on him. Well Puck just wasn't having that. He yanked open the bathroom door just as his sister prepared to bang out it and she stumbled through in surprise.

"Watch it, squirt." He breezed past her.  
"YOU WATCH IT!" she hollered after him as she slammed the bathroom door.  
"Dude, what were you doing?" Finn looked up as Puck came back into his room.  
"Gimme your keys." He said kicking his shoes towards the bed and sitting to put them on.  
"What?" Finn paused his game and stared at Puck.  
"Your keys, hand'em over. I need to do something real quick." Puck stood and held his hand out.  
"Do you want me to come with you?" Finn asked cautiously as he handed over the keys to his car, or rather his mother's car.  
"Nah, it's cool. It'll only take a minute- stop looking at me like that, I'm not going for a joy ri- that was one freakin' time, dude!" Puck glared as he snatched the keys from Finn, "and watch my sister." He threw over his shoulder as he pulled his bedroom door closed. 

Considering Puck had just used Carol's already borrowed car to get from his house to the Hummel's, it had been hard to tell from first glance if anyone was home. However, after 2 minutes and thirty seven seconds of banging on the door and a call to the house phone with no answer, it was probably safe to assume Kurt was the only one home- and of course the front door was locked. It took Puck another astounding 3 minutes to realize that, duh, he had a house key on the ring of keys he'd taken from Finn.

When Puck finally got the door unlocked he hesitated in the foyer just to make sure no one else actually was there before wondering down the hall. He lingered in the living room a few moments, wondering if it was really such a hot idea to be there. After some hesitation he figured since he was already there he might as well go through with it and followed the music that drifted down from the upstairs.

Puck stopped in front of the second to last door at the end of the upstairs hall, no doubt Kurt's room, and contemplated how to go about this. He decided to try calling again, feeling it was only fair to at least warn Kurt that he was about to get all up in his personal space. Either way, none of the scenarios in Puck's head played out any less awkward than "I'm in your house invading your room."

It took a moment after dialing, and when the phone started to ring Puck could just hear it over Kurt's music. It was surprising to hear the chorus of 'American Pie' just barely over the music that pulsed through the door. That would be a question for later because the call went eventually went to voicemail.

"Okay."

Puck rubbed his temple. That was like six calls. There was no way Kurt wasn't aware of the fact that Puck was trying to get a hold of him. Well if Kurt wasn't going to answer his phone of his own volition Puck was just going to have to do it for him. Redialing Kurt's number, Puck waited. On the first ring audible over the music Puck pushed open Kurt's bedroom door. Saying Kurt shrieked was an understatement.

Kurt was on his feet in a second, phone clutched in his hand, "Puck, what the hell!"

Puck snatched the phone out of Kurt's hand and pressed 'accept' on the screen before shoving the phone back into his hand and directing it to his ear. Satisfied, Puck turned and stalked back out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

"Finn said you were depressed." Puck said into his own phone, sitting down on the first step at the top of the landing, down the hall from Kurt's room. Kurt's breath came over the line before there was a quiet noise of affirmation. "Do you want to talk about it?"

There was rustling on Kurt's end, then the door opened and the music filtered out into the hall. The line remained connected as Puck listened to the sound of socked feet and labored breathing shuffle down the carpeted hall. There was a soft exhale of breath over the line as Kurt sat down behind him. Puck didn't turn around, nor did he hang up, and after a moment Kurt's voice echoed quietly over the line.

"Yes."


End file.
